


Our love story began when you ran

by AZC (A_Z_C)



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, Arranged Marriage, Attempt at Humor, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, How Do I Tag, I am very sorry, M/M, Not Beta Read, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Running Away, Screams into her hands, first chapter is just pre-relationship, i guess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 19:15:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20179339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Z_C/pseuds/AZC
Summary: Self-prompt - Kyungsoo ran away from home because he did not want to be in a contract marriage with Prince Chanyeol, what he did not expect was to get caught by Chenyeol, get interrogated by Chanyeol because he was suspected of being a spy and get courted by Chanyeol because kicking the prince in the balls and being sassy to him every day meant that he started at you with heart-eyes





	Our love story began when you ran

**Author's Note:**

> So I heard of Lovely day fest and thought this was an amazing idea, and not just because I like Chansoo. I thought that maybe this would finally force me into completing a fic in a definite amount of time but haha, no it didn't happen. This is thus the first chapter only, with more to follow soon hopefully. Originally I wanted for someone else to work on it but when even on the last day this prompt was not selected I choose to do it myself.  
There might be a difference between the writing styles between the first and latter half of this, but that's cause they were written months apart. I have tried to make it better, but I am not sure how successful I was. I am sorry.  
This is not beta read so all typos are mine and I would be very grateful if you could point them out. Thank you.  
I hope it's not too bad and you like it?  
Enjoy ~

There were a lot of things that Kyungsoo was prepared for when he ran away from home; bandits, getting lost, being overcharged, going broke, being recognised and dragged back home…

What he was not prepared for was this.

He can feel the cold of the dungeons starkly in the thin white shirt that he wears. The lights are dim which he does not get. Are they trying to make a statement? What sort of statement? That the royal family’s coffers are so empty that they can’t afford more lamps or candles? Or is this one of the weird intimidation techniques that Yifan has talked about?

He does not understand this. What is also beyond his scope of understanding is how and why he is currently in this situation.

And why the small man in front of him thinks that he can intimidate Kyungsoo into giving answers.

“I will ask you once again, who are you and how do you have the seal of Marquis Do’s son?”

Yeeeees, no. Kyungsoo is very happy not answering that, mostly because he still hasn’t been able to come up with a good lie that would keep from getting his family notified and involved.

He turns his head away from the small man sitting opposite him and looks at the flame in the lamp closest to him. His hands are clammy but he can't wipe them. He very much bemoans cutting his hair short, because while convenient and a really good disguise like this, his dark and long hair would have hidden more of his face and emotions.

The man stands up abruptly, a noise of frustration dragged from his mouth, as his hand slams down on the table in anger, “Stop looking away when I ask you something!”

Kyungsoo very pointedly keeps ignoring him. He forces his lips to remain loose and not curl in annoyance.

Look if he hasn’t gotten a plan yet, he may as well be not say anything to tangle himself up in some sort of mess.

Jongin would know what to do here. He would know if being obtuse and to what degree would be productive to get out of this situation.

Of course if his best friend was here, there is a pretty big chance that Kyungsoo would not be in this situation at all.

This is all just making him miss his friends even more terribly. He would even settle for having Sehun with him, no matter how big of a brat he is.

“If you do not cooperate, I will have you thrown in jail!”

Kyungsoo is unable to withhold his sigh. What a small, petty man.

“Baekhyun, calm down.” Another voice comes, much calmer than small petty man. Kyungsoo finally looks away from the flame to take in the newcomer.

This man is also short. In fact, he is even shorter than Kyungsoo's current interrogator. Unlike his current interrogator, he is not a tense line, rather, he stands firm and dangerously relaxed.

Kyungsoo wants to make fun of this man, though seeing as he is not particularly tall himself, he doubts he is allowed to, but he is bored. Kyungsoo is so very bored and he wants to make fun of this man.

Instead, he turns away from the two now whispering to each other, one furious, one unmoving and looks at the lamp again.

The flame is pretty and the ash collecting on the inside of the glass has started making patterns. He thinks one of them, maybe, sort-of, looks like a horse. But he is not sure.

It requires closer inspection that he can’t do what with being tied to a chair and all.

This whole situation is a mess and giving him hives and rashes. Kyungsoo knows exactly who to blame.

His status-hungry parents and His Royal Majesty,  _ Chanyeol, of the Park clan, crown prince of Exolyion. _

The very thought of them has him tensing in his chair for a moment, before he forces himself to calm down. tensing up just hurts him more and the loudness of his mind keeps his attention away from the danger.

When his breathing is normal again and his muscles relaxed, he looks at his two well dressed interrogators from under his lashes hoping to catch what they are saying.

Small petty man has not calmed down and does not disappoint. When he speaks, he is  _ loud, _ “We don’t know why he had the seal of Marquis Do’s son! You know there have already been problems with the marriage, the communication between the young lord and the prince is not working. We need to get to the bottom of this!”

Kyungsoo perks up at his, hope fluttering in his chest. The plans for the marriage not working out is  _ great  _ news! Not having to be married to a stupid prince, is  _ very  _ good news.

“Guards take him back to his cell.” the second man suddenly says.

Kyungsoo keeps his annoyed sigh behind his lips and gets ready to be manhandled.

The guard come forward, free him from the ropes and tug him into a standing position.

“Min-” smally, petty man,  _ Baekhyun _ , begins, only to be cut off by the other man.

“I am worried about it too, but there are other ways of getting info. We are still awaiting a letter from the Marquis. Don’t waste your time on prisoners who don’t speak when you-” is the last thing he hears as he is blindfolded and guided to his cell. The door to the interrogation room closes with a loud thud behind him.

.

.

.

It hasn’t been long since Kyungsoo was brought back to his cell that he starts wondering if he will ever find a good opportunity to run away. And if he does, how would he use it.

His mind races like an unbound horse as he turns on his side again so that he is facing the only entrance to the cell. His fingers twitch, in restlessness and agitation, as he tries to organise his thoughts.

He doesn't know where he is, has no map of this place and does not know how late in the day it is. His only piece of information is that he was ‘arrested’ before noon and that he thinks maybe a couple of hours have passed since then.

In momentary self-annoyance, he again curses his past-self for bathing with the signet ring on. Of course, he couldn’t have left it on his clothes either after that one time, a few towns prior, when someone tried to take his clothes and steal his money.

He really has no idea what he could have done. But he should have thought of  _ something!  _ Because that is literally the only time anybody would have caught a glimpse of the ring. And then thought to alert the authorities that some  _ traveller  _ was seen with the Do family seal.

The brunet bemoans his luck.

The creaking of the metal door breaks Kyungsoo out of his ponderings.

In a minute he is upright, eyes narrowed as he takes in the man coming inside.

The man who steps though is TALL. Around Kai and Sehun’s height and with a shock of bright-red hair on top of his head. The unkemptness of which could only be attributed to the way the man was running his hands through it. He was dressed rather well too and Kyungsoo wondered if this man was a noble like his other introgatters had seemed.

He started at Kyungsoo, his face a mix of emotions too complex for the prisoner to decipher in the dark of the cell.

The brunet sighed after a moment, meeting the man’s stare head on.

Even in the low light of the cell his dark eyes shone and seemed captivating. His gaze rankled Kyungsoo as the smaller man tried his very best to remain at an eased position.

“So you’re the spy, huh?” the stranger said, his voice low and deep and neutral.

Kyungsoo would have said, ‘Yes that’s me!’ out of sheer boredom and annoyance he felt, if not for how the statement disguised as a question threw him completely off.

How had these people reached the conclusion that Kyungsoo was a spy?!

A thief he would understand. But how they thought that he was somehow keeping tabs on the prince and his supposed-to-fiance’s lives confused him a lot. Who would he even have been spying  _ for  _ ? All the neighbouring states were either vassal states or in close alliances!

Still reeling from confusion, and wondering if rather than a prison camp he would be in fact executed after all, he kept silent. His heartbeat though did not ease as fear raised it's ugly head and he could feel himself slowly becoming stiff.

It prompted the taller man to take a very very audible deep breath, almost as if to hold himself back, “Don’t talk a lot do you? Not even to defend yourself. I wonder if that is your guilt showing through.”

Even with fear slowly crawling through his veins, Kyungsoo did his best to fight back from raising an eyebrow, though he was pretty sure his eye still twitches a little. He kept his eyes locked with the red-heads in hope to psych the other out of this staring contest.

Fear had never been enough to make him back down and staring at each other for this long had to be creepy. His eyes were starting to dry out.

The other man either did not notice or did not care, as he did a “Aha!”

Though his heart seemed to want to fly out of his chest, Kyungsoo fought harder to keep his eyebrows down at the taller man's, “So you are not just a doll after all. You can react!”

Well, it was in reaction to all that was happening that he was not reacting. Being thought of as a doll for that was a first though. Even with anxeity's claws in him he wondered if he should feel offended.

“Chan!” a voice came from the doorway interrupting their staring and his musings. Both of them looked towards the door.

It was the small petty man from before.

“Baek?” the tall man asked, head tilted to the side, his body relaxing a little.

“We have received some important news, come on leave the prisoner be. We’ll get back to him later.” the small petty man, Baekhyun if Kyungsoo remembered correctly, said. The twitching of his fingers and the way his body wouldn't completely stop moving giving away his impatience.

The redhead frowned and shooting one last sharp-eyed look at Kyungsoo, turned on his heel and left.

All at once most of his tension flushed out of his system. The brunet sighed. What a mess.

.

.

.

Kyungsoo woke up in the morning, still lying on the cot that was uncomfortable and in need of some real bedding.

It wasn’t a dream, he thought rolling out of the bed and looking around the cell again. The feeling of fullness in his bladder did not let him keep laying around for long.

He got up and walked over to the corner again. The pot was disgusting, but it was all he had so he kept from closing his nose and drew the curtain close to relieve himself.

He wanted to get out of here. And he wanted it  _ right now  _ .

When he stepped out, hands wet from when he had washed them at the small sink, he found a food laden tray, probably slid in from the small window like space near the door.

He walked closer, and seeing as there was no towel, sighed and dried his hands off on his pants.

He picked the tray up and sat down on the floor to try it. It was a clay pitcher of water with a clay cup and bread so slate and hard that Kyungsoo put in back on the tray after just two bites. The cup he filled with water and drained never having realised how thirsty he was until he drank it.

With that done, he looked around the cell and realized that he had, once more, nothing to do.

Bored, so very bored, he lay down on his cot again and tried another nap.

Maybe all sleep lost to a lifetime of late night reading books could be gained back here. It’s not like he had anything else to do.

.

.

.

Kyungsoo jumped as the metal door of his cell slammed open.

Half-asleep, he tried to stand and almost lost his balance.

It was the red head again, the brunet realised, as he was pushed back on the cot with big hands.

“Do you know where Marquis Do’s son is?” his voice was even more deep and growly than usual and it had an undercurrent of concern and anger laced through it.

“What? No.” Kyungsoo answered, before he could think it through, as the haze of sleep slowly started to lift.

“You speak.” the other said, and there is a curious sort of wonder and confusion added to his tone.

“Yes, obviously.” the brunet replied with, pushing off the redhead’s arm away from his shoulder and sitting up the cot as he rubbed his eyes, “What happened?”

At once the taller man’s face shut down, neutral if not for the sharpness in his eyes, the clenched fists and the thin slant of his lips, “Lord and heir Kyungsoo Do, Marquis Do’s son, has run away. We found you with his seal. Tell me where he is and how you found the seal.”

There was steel and firm determination in him as he glared at the smaller man. It made a rapidly awakening Kyungsoo realise that  _ maybe  _ silence would not cut it this time.

It did not mean he knew what to do either.

With wakefulness came anxiety creeping back. His mouth was dry and his tongue heavy and when he opened his mouth, he was not sure what he could say.

“Do not lie. We are talking about the fiance of the crown prince. If any harm has come to him and if you lie to us about it,  _ you will be executed.  _ ”

The calmness and cold focus sent chills down Kyungsoo’s spine. The calming breath he was taking shutterd out with an answer, “I do not know. I found the seal laying on a table and picked it up.”

He raised his eyes, locked them with the redhead’s, fearful of turning away and getting run through.

“On a table?” the taller man asked disbelieving, “on which table, in which place, would you find  _ this  _ ?”

The sentence before had been a truth. The brunet really did not know where he was currently and he had picked up the signet ring with his seal from his own desk. But what did he say here?

“A taraven. After a drunken brawl.” Kyungsoo said, wiping his clammy hands on his trousers as he really hoped that it was a plausible story. He was a terrible,  _ terrible  _ liar. For all that he liked to antagonize people, he did not know how to lie.

Junmyeon, his cousin, thought it was adorable. Junmyeon was a moron and Kyungsoo really, really wanted the other to be stuck here and not him.

The other man bit his lips and the lines of his body gew tenser. There was a sort of angry desperation in him as he looked at Kyungsoo.

“That is not possible. Are you a lover of lord Kyungsoo? Is that why he has given you his ring?” the redhead asked, sounding so angry and heartbroken that Kyungsoo felt taken aback.

Only for the shock to double over as he realised the meaning behind the others words.

All intimidation and fear that Kyungsoo was feeling vanished, only to get replaced with hot-red  _ anger.  _ He knew that was reckless and careless, he should still be on his guard but-

This man was dumb. How did he even reach that conclusion? And what kinds of things was he thinking of Kyungsoo? Kyungsoo had a  _ reputation  _ damnit!

He was the pure, untouched, soitic scholar! His reputation was made on the fact that he had no romantic relationships and was thus called the ice-lord! It’s why he was being made to marry  _ the stupid prince! _

“I am not-” he began, outrage overriding every other sense, “-having an affair with-”

He stopped suddenly as the red-head moved closer, just before he could make the grave error of saying myself. Anger settled down to mix with fear in a drink so toxic that he wished to curl up.  _ What had he been about to do? _

The taller man caught on though, “Complete your sentence! What were you about to say?”

“I am not having an affair with anyone.” A little bit of his calm returned as the blunder he was about to make slammed into him.

“You lie!” the other roared.

Kyungsoo suddenly exasperated on top of being angry and fearful, and not really sure if this is a fever dream or not, threw his hands in the air.

Okay so it is a day for dramatics then. Myeon and Fan would be so proud of him expressing himself in a form other than sarcastic barbs and judgemental looks.

“Why would I need to do that? And how would I, a commoner, even meet someone like the Lord? You know that he doesn’t have romantic affairs!”

“So you do know him!”

“ _ Everyone  _ knows him! Everyone knows that he is stone-cold!” Kyungsoo was very proud of himself for being able to gain that reputation.  _ Very proud. _

It had the benefit of saving him from rumors of affairs and limiting the irritating social interactions he had to deal with. Myeon’s and Jongin’s cries of despair were just extra cream on the already delicious cake.

“_Speak_ _carefully_, the man you are insulting is the future king of your country.”

A patriot. This was exactly what Kyungsoo needed right now, “Not much of a future king if he isn’t found, huh?” he muttered absently under his breath.

“Speak up!” the redhead’s anger seemed reeled in but far from calm.

Kyungsoo swallowed and clenched his fists. There was a reason his friends knew him more for his recklessness than intelligence.

“I am not insulting the royal family until he is engaged to the prince. And since you can’t find him, I don’t think the marriage will happen anytime soon.”

The taller man’s face became as red as his hair. So livid was he that Kyungsoo was not surprised when he got shoved against the wall.

There was immediate pain on the back of his skull. He bit his lip to keep his hiss behind his lips and kept his eyes on the red-head.

The man bent down and for the first time the brunet noticed his features. His face, even though contoured in anger, was handsome. This was the worst time  _ ever  _ to have that realization.

Kyungsoo's body tensed up in preparation for a blow to come and he found himself trying to melt into the wall.

Before anything violent could happen though there was some noise from the doorway. Both males turned as a soldier stepped hurriedly in.

“The kitchen is on fire!” he announced in thinly veiled panic.

The taller man backed off Kyungsoo immediately, “What do you mean the kitchen is on fire?!”

“I was not told the whole story, just sent to fetch you.” the soldier replied with, as the redhead startsed hurriedly making his way out of the cell, “But I heard that it involved a batch of explosives that Lord Bae-”

The sentence got cut off because the banging of the door closing was  _ loud. _

And then two other men ran away fast even as the reverberations stayed.

The brunet slumped against the wall.

This was not the wake-up he was looking for.

With a sigh he looked around at the bare walls and then lay down on the uncomfortable cot again. He didn’t have anything to do. He was so  _ bored.  _ And he couldn’t even go to sleep after waking up like that.

As his heartbeat normalised, he wondered if, next time the redhead visited, he should try asking for a book. At least he would have something to  _ do _ then.

.

.

.

Absently staring at the ceiling, Kyungsoo fell into a trance-like state.

It soon got broken by heavy shuffling and then rising voices.

“I don’t know why they are keeping him here rather than the inner cells! It’s so bloody cold!” The voice was harsh and angry and came strangely across because of the thick wooden door.

“Quiet down, he’ll wake up.” The other voice was not quite as loud but now that the burnet was paying attention he could hear it clearly.

“I doubt it. He doesn’t do anything except eat, sleep and piss. Heard he didn’t even open his mouth to the little lordlings.” the first voice came again.

So he had been right, he was being held by nobles. Perhaps they were planning on using him to get closer to the prince.

Kyungsoo strained his ear but the voices had started to fade, probably because they were moving away until there were only faint noises from the door.

Kyungsoo knew they were still speaking but it felt so far away. He was not in the mood to get up and put his ear to the door like a kid. So he remained still in hopes that they would come closer again.

His wait in tranquility was disturbed soon by loud barking. It was followed shortly by some yells and cursing.

“Oh this now! Can’t they just use the money they have to make better door’s? Putting this cell next to the mouth of the tunnel, what were those morons thinking?”

“Shut up and help me get this dog out before we are caught slacking!”

There was more braking and shuffling and groans for the next five minutes and then it settled down again.

“Oi, shuffle the cards we are starting a new round. That dog broke-”

The voices faded away again.

Kyungsoo absently wondered if he could play with them before dismissing the thought. He turned away and tried to drown out the still faintly audible mutters.

There was something they had said though, that stuck out to him.

His cell is at the end of a tunnel? Maybe he had a higher chance of running away than he had previously thought.

.

.

.

Kyungsoo did not know how long it had been but he was growing restless and he wanted to be free.

Never before had he faced something like this. Even back with his parents he was never just confined to a small room.

He had even managed to talk to his ‘guards’ when they had opened the little window to give him food and water. But it was not helpful.

He was not being told  _ anything  _ and he could feel anxiousness creep upon him in tide like waves. He had been refused conversation, book and even pen and paper. 

He was barely keeping track of the day. There were two meals served to him everyday. Slate bread and a clay pitcher filled with water. It had been eight days since he was locked up.  _ Eight days. _

His plans to escape had not come to fruition either. Since the last time the tall angry red head been in the room, a whole six days ago, the huge wooden door had not opened and the small window through which his food came remained, as ever, too small to fit anything but his head through.

Before long he really would go crazy and there were parts of him that were wondering if, perhaps, getting married to the prince might have been better than whatever this was. The thought was terrifying, because he knew full well that he would be stifled in the royal palace and that there would be expectations of him that would hinder his pursuit of knowledge.

_ He did not want to be married _ , he loved his freedom too much and as such he had no interest in getting shackled down.

But he wanted out of this place. He wanted to contact his friends and tell them where he was so that they would rescue him. Even though he knew that his parents would find out too, no matter how careful he was. He also knew that slowly but surely he would lose his grip on reality if this continued and he just  _ wanted out. _

.

.

.

It was really no wonder then what he did next was really reckless. But Kyungsoo was a little hotheaded demon, as Jongin repeatedly told him, so truthfully it was par for the course.

He didn’t know what god’s smiled upon him and how it came to be but ten days after his imprisonment the redhead came back. And as ever, he was alone.

Kyungsoo hadn’t heard the guards and if there were knights, noblemen or anybody else present, then they were being pretty quiet. He did not care about them.

The young noble born decided to take this chance.

The redhead came inside and stood near the door and stared down at the smaller male. 

Heart beating a tatto in his chest, the smaller man took steps forward until he was just half an arm's length away from the tall lordling.

He was not intimidated even when Kyungsoo came closer. Kyungsoo noticed that it might have been because he is very tiny compared to the man. When he looked straight ahead, all he could see of the man was his collarbone. How very annoying.

They stared at each other for a minute but then the other man looked away, the tension in his body turned up to eleven, “We have just gotten information th-”

He was unable to complete his sentence because Kyungsoo kicked him between the legs with all his power. With a pained grunt and eyes almost popping out because of the pain, the man started to fall.

He winced himself at what he had done, and swallowed back a yelp as the man crumbled right at his feet. A part of him felt bad but he didn’t care enough to stick around and do something about the man now lying on the ground.

Before the redhead could regain his bearings, Kyungsoo decided to get out as quickly as he could.

He turned and ran out of the small cell, and the element of surprise meant that when he got out and was in sight of the guards, they didn’t immediately react.

He used that to his advantage, throwing a prayer to whichever god was listening and ran in the opposite direction to the guards hoping that it was the direction to the mouth of the tunnel.

Footsteps thundered behind him as he shot down the corridors and around corners. His heartbeat was deafening and the adrenaline coursing through him would not be enough to save him for long.

Panting, he turned another corner and almost thought he was lost, but he passed right by his cells again, and had enough wits about him that this time he rushed down the different direction.

In the distance he could hear a different type of noise. One that spoke of the ambiance of a big garden.

His muscles burned and his lungs felt inadequate to help him further but he did not stop. Closer and closer he went until he could almost smell the nature and feel the slight wind that was coming into the dungeons.

Nearly there! He thought to himself, putting in a burst of speed, trying desperately to deepen his breath and -

For a moment he does not realise what is happening. One minute his feet were hitting the ground in a rhythm that took him to his freedom and the next the were in air kicking against nothing.

There was weight behind his back and an arm around his waist as he was lifted up and held against a body- he flailed, all to no avail.

“You were going to be set free today after some questioning,” came a voice next to his ear, Kyungsoo might not have heard it very often but the fear it had accompanied meant that he recognized it as the voice of the red-head, “but not anymore. You have assaulted me,  _ your future king,  _ and I refuse to let you go without a suitable punishment.” 

Kyungsoo shivered at the voice. And a thousand questions sprang to him mind.

As he was thrown over a shoulder and his struggling remained unsuccessful, his mind whirled faster and faster. 

This man could not be Chanyeol, the prince of Exolyion, surely not. But the descriptor matched what he had heard of the prince. 

Tall, red-haired, handsome with fae-like ears. Easily angered. 

Kyungsoo felt himself go slowly limp as dread sank ever lower in his gut and spread into his very bones. If this truly was the man who was supposed to be his fiancee, it was of utmost importance he never find out Kyungsoo’s identity.

Because otherwise the consequences would be terrible for  _ everyone. _

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always welcome!!  
Please tell me all your thoughts! And once the identity reveal happens I will link my SNS too :)  
Don't forget to check out the other stories for the fest!! Thank you for reading!


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